


Birds and Blankets

by isabeau25



Series: Wander Home [12]
Category: Epic (2013)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-05
Updated: 2014-04-05
Packaged: 2018-01-18 07:09:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1419228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isabeau25/pseuds/isabeau25
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cardinals are not humming birds, and Nod and Ronin have a good night, relatively speaking. <b>This story is included in <i>Lost in the Woods</i> (in a slightly modified form).</b></p>
            </blockquote>





	Birds and Blankets

**Author's Note:**

> **Please read these notes or this piece won’t make much sense.** There is a large jump in time and a lot of story that happens between [Cheepcheep the Chickadee](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1408627) and this piece. Since I don’t know if I’ll ever fully write out this story, I thought I would continue posting what I have anyway.
> 
> It takes Nim about six months for figure out who Nod is. When he does, he finds that Nod has a great-great uncle, Lord Barnet, living on the other side of the forest. He’s Nod’s only relative, so they contact him to come take custody of Nod. He is a wealthy, upper-class businessman, and he doesn’t really want Nod. He wants him even less after he meets him, because he sees Nod’s behavioral issues as a potential embarrassment to him, but he feels obligated to take him. 
> 
> Nod doesn’t want to go with him. He wants to stay with Ronin, and he’s really angry that Ronin is making him leave. Barnet isn’t very nice to Nod, and Nod runs away before they even leave Moonhaven. Ronin is furious with Barnet for losing him, and tells him he’s not a fit guardian, and he will never take custody of Nod. As Barnet didn’t want Nod anyway, he is more than happy to leave. Ronin tracks down Nod, who hasn’t really gone that far, and brings him home.
> 
> Nod regresses significantly because of all the stress and trauma the incident causes. He stops talking, he goes back to throwing temper tantrums and crying all the time, and he doesn’t want to be around anyone but Ronin. He’s also really angry at Ronin. He’s not quite sure how to manage not wanting Ronin out of his sight and being really mad at him at the same time. It usually just ends in him latching onto Ronin and not letting go and a lot of crying.
> 
> This piece, which oddly enough was the first one I wrote for this series, takes place two to three weeks after the mess with Barnet. Nod has leveled out a little bit, but he’s still not a happy camper.

“We spent all day on the couch under the blanket,” Orla told Ronin gently.

By ‘we’ she actually meant Nod. Ronin could see the lumpy blue blanket on the couch from the entry way. The little boy was completely hidden under it and probably had been all day. It wasn’t really a surprised, but Ronin had to wonder how long the child could stay mad at him.

He couldn’t really blame him. He never should have let Lord Barnet take him.

“He had a little bit of lunch, but he’s probably about ready dinner,” the daisy jinn said.

“Thank you Orla,” Ronin unbuckled his belt and set his sword on the weapon’s wrack near the door. “Will the same times tomorrow work for you?”

“Of course,” Orla nodded.

Ronin bid her goodbye and finished taking off his armor and putting away his weapons before going to kneel down near the end of the blanket he guessed Nod’s head was at.

“How was your day buddy?” Ronin asked, dropping his hand to rest on where Nod’s head should be.

The blanket wiggled, and Nod pushed at his hand crankily from under it, but didn’t say anything. He had been talking quite well before the mess with his great-uncle, but now he was back to silence, punctuated occasionally by screaming.

“I got you something,” Ronin opened the bag he had brought home.

Nod shifted again, but didn’t come out from under the blanket.

“This is a nuthatch,” Ronin pulled the wooden toy out of the bag and set it on the coffee table where Nod could see it if he pulled his head out from under the blanket.

“Here’s a warbler and a finch,” Ronin set the brightly painted birds in a line, “a swallow and a junco.”

There were over a dozen in all, including two types of humming bird and a duck with two ducklings. Nod loved birds. Some of the first words he had said had been bird names, and it was one of the few topics that would consistently hold his attention. Ronin was hoping it would at least coax him out from under the blanket.

After all the birds were in a line, a little hand reached out and plucked a cardinal off the table. A moment later a blue tree swallow disappeared under the blanket as well, and Nod rolled onto his back, sticking his feet in the air to make a tent of the blanket. A perfect cardinal’s whistle came from under the blanket, followed by the chirping of a swallow.

“How about some dinner?” Ronin smiled and patted the boy’s head through the blanket, relieved to hear any noise from him that wasn’t screaming.

A hand shot out for the junco and the appropriate whistle followed. Ronin took that as a yes and got up to get dinner started. Dinner got eaten in the living room, and in Nod’s case, under the blanket. Ronin was sure there were going to be crumbs ground into the cushions, but Nod was actually eating, which was more important.

Nod imitated birds in-between mouthfuls, or at least Ronin hoped it was between mouthful or the couch really was going to be a mess. They were always local birds, and Ronin wasn’t bad at guessing which ones. Nod would keep going with the same call until Ronin got it right. It wasn’t much, but it was better than the last few weeks of silence.

Ronin was almost done with dishes when someone knocked on the door. Being general meant it was not unusual for people to come knocking at his door at any hour. It had becoming increasingly common in the last few months, as his captains tried to accommodate him having a small child to look after.

At the sound of the door Nod, who had stuck his head out to rearrange his birds on the coffee table, immediately ducked back under his blanket and curled into a ball. Ronin frowned and went to answer the door, hoping it would be quick.

Captain Orion was there with a sizable stack of papers. Orion was their oldest active duty Leafman and handled the basic training for all new recruits.

“Here are the placements for the new Leafmen and the roster of new recruits,” Orion handed off a stack of papers to the general.

“Anything noteworthy?” Ronin stepped back to let him in.

“Your blanket is moving,” Orion replied mildly.

Ronin glanced at the couch where Nod was wiggling again under his blanket, “it does that sometimes.”

“Also, you seem to have acquired a flock,” Orion’s lips quirked up in a grin.

“Uh-huh,” Ronin replied absently, already distracted by the report he had been handed.

Orion left him to it, heading into the living room to sit on the far side of the coffee table from Nod. He picked up the wooden cardinal and examined it closely.

“It’s a really nice humming bird,” he said, turning it over in his hand.

The blanket stirred, and it was possible the boy was watching him from under one of the folds.

“Look at all the detail,” he smiled mildly, “just like a real humming bird.”

A cardinal’s whistle came from under the blanket.

“Even the color is right for a humming bird,” Orion fought off a grin.

“Cardinal,” Nod said firmly.

Ronin jumped at the sound of his voice; he hadn’t heard it in weeks. Nod was still hidden under his blanket, and Orion looked highly amused.

“No, it’s a humming bird,” Orion shook his head.

“Cardinal,” Nod repeated.

“Look at all the red on it,” Orion held the bird up, “it has to be a ruby throated humming bird.”

“Cardinal!” Nod insisted, finally poking his head out from under the blanket.

“Huh,” Orion eyed the toy, “I guess you’re right.”

He set it on the table within reach of Nod and picked up the chickadee, “this one is the humming bird then.”

Ronin realized he was staring and went back to his reports. Orion had enough great grand children to fill at least two units. If he wanted to play with Nod, Ronin wasn’t going to interfere, especially if he could get Nod talking.

Orion misnamed every single bird on the table and by the time he got through all of them Nod had slid off the couch to sit on the floor across from him, stuffed chickadee in his lap, giggling madly every time Orion got it wrong.

“Alright, I know when I’ve been beat,” Orion stood up, “Ronin, do you need anything else?”

“No,” Ronin looked up, “thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Orion’s smirk told Ronin he knew he wasn’t thanking him for the reports.

Nod waved goodbye and went back to playing with his toys. Ronin let him play while he finished reading through the placement notes for another two units. Having Nod had dramatically changed his working schedule. The piles of paperwork he used to stay late at his office to do somehow managed to find their way to his apartment, and he had started handing off more and more of the remedial tasks that didn’t really need his attention to Finn.

Finn probably rolled his eye about it behind his back and grumbled about it having taken him long enough to get around to delegating. Apparently, he had just needed the proper motivation.

“Ready for a bath kiddo?” Ronin stood up from the table, his back popping when he stretched.

Nod considered it, then held his stuffed bird up.

“CheepCheep can’t come in the bath,” Ronin shook his head, “he get’s soggy, remember? Then he can’t come to bed with you.”

Nod pouted at him with all the indignance of a seven year old, which wasn’t much actually. He was much more frightening when he bared his teeth, relatively so anyway. He could also manage an unnerving impression of a fox if he got angry enough. None of those things were about to happen.

They had the conversation about CheepCheep and the bath about once a week. Ronin had tried letting Nod just take the toy into the bath so he could see it got soggy, but the boy had wanted to sleep with it anyway afterwards. It didn’t seem to bother him at all.

“What if CheepCheep sits on the sink?” Ronin offered.

The boy considered the offer carefully, then agreed with a solemn nod. He hopped to his feet only to sit himself back down on Ronin’s foot and wrap his arms and legs around his leg.

“I am not your beast of burden,” Ronin informed him.

Nod tipped his head back and stuck his tongue out at him before tightening his grip.

“Fine,” Ronin sighed.

He made a show of dragging his foot, although the boy didn’t weigh very much. Bath time wasn’t hard, just wet for everyone involved, and Ronin usually needed a shower himself by the time it was finished. Nod was apparently still mad at him, because he made sure Ronin was dripping by the time he had the boy clean. He sent him to put his pajamas on and took a quick shower himself.

Nod was sitting outside the bathroom door dozing when he got out. Ronin stooped down and scooped him up, deciding to forgo the always futile task of putting Nod down in his own bed. They were having a good night. No reason to spoil it.

“Ready for bed buddy?” Ronin asked.

The boy nodded against his shoulder with a yawn. Ronin went back to pick up his reports before going to bed. He needed to get through at least the new assignments before tomorrow so he could approve them and get the new Leafmen into their units.

Ronin wasn’t quite finished when he fell asleep, Nod tucked against him with his stuffed bird under his arm and his thumb in his mouth.


End file.
